Christian Summers and his family will always remember how they celebrated this Fourth of July weekend. Christian, 17, was the winning pitcher for Team USA in the gold medal softball game in the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece.

From Highland County, the board reimbursed $66,500 to a former client of former attorney John W. Slagle. Slagle failed to account for settlement funds belonging to his client. Slagle resigned from the practice of law in Ohio, with discipline pending, on Feb. 25, 2009.

The Band Perry rocked Uptown Hillsboro Friday night during the second day of the 27th annual Festival of the Bells. 

Festival chairperson Michael Bradford said the Friday crowd may have been big enough to eclipse the 2007 crowd when an estimated 17,000 people turned out to see Taylor Swift. 

The Band Perry rocked Uptown Hillsboro Friday night during the second day of the 27th annual Festival of the Bells. 

Festival chairperson Michael Bradford said the Friday crowd may have been big enough to eclipse the 2007 crowd when an estimated 17,000 people turned out to see Taylor Swift. 

CBS News and The Columbus Dispatch are reporting that the Ohio Statehouse will have its first full-service bar.

The 2011 Festival of the Bells kicked off with a ring Thursday evening, as the organizational committee welcomed crowds to the streets of Uptown Hillsboro. 

Festival chairperson Michael Bradford welcomed the crowd and thanked corporate sponsors for making the festival, with its free concert entertainment, possible. 

The festival's "youngest committee member," 3-year-old Dylan Fender, made the official opening of the festival by ringing the bell in front of the Highland County Courthouse. 

Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, welcomed the news that the Obama Administration will have an additional month to issue a conditional commitment for USEC’s loan guarantee application to build the American Centrifuge Project (ACP) in Piketon, Ohio before there is major job loss.

“For too long, we have used ‘Band-Aid’ funding and one-time dollars to fill serious budget gaps. As a result, Ohio faced an $8 billion deficit that required tough decisions and a collective tightening of the belt. The passage of this budget is a key step in revitalizing the economy in our state."

Fourteen residents of the Enchanted Hills Community Association have filed a civil suit in Highland County Common Pleas Court against the subdivision, regarding the collection and use of membership dues.

The Hillsboro City Schools have finished the fiscal year with a more than $900,000 surplus, good news for the district, considering they had anticipated the possibility of ending the year in the red. 

The HCS board of education met at the Scott House for their last meeting of the fiscal year Wednesday, and district treasurer Debbie Lawwell reported on the closing financials. The fiscal year ends June 30. 

The Highland County Board of Developmental Disabilities has unanimously voted to not renew the contract of board of DD Superintendent Chuck Biggert.
 The board met for their regular meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Hills and Dales Training Center. At the end of the meeting, the board moved to go into executive session to discuss the contract of a public employee.

Highland County Commissioner Tom Horst informed the Board of DD that Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins told the commissioners the "proper thing would be to re-appoint Sam Snyder to the board."

Leesburg resident Karen Adams was sworn in Tuesday afternoon by Highland County Juvenile and Probate Court Judge Kevin Greer to serve on the Highland County Board of DD.
  Adams, who works at UC Physicians in Cincinnati, said that the board of DD and the work that is done at Hills and Dales is a cause that is close to her heart.

The Highland County Sheriff's Office has received more than $13,000 in grant funding from the Ohio Attorney General's Office to go toward drug use prevention. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today Monday that 201 local law enforcement agencies across the state will receive $3.5 million in funding for drug use prevention programs through the Attorney General’s Drug Use Prevention Grant.